Portable phased array test instrument

ABSTRACT

Inventive features of a portable ultrasonic phased array test instrument are disclosed. The instrument has a battery rack that can be repurposed to host a re-programming module for testing and re-programming electronic components.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit and priority of U.S. Provisionalpatent application Ser. No. 62/523,339 filed Jun. 22, 2017 entitled ANIMPROVED PORTABLE PHASED ARRAY TEST INSTRUMENT, the entire disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to ultrasonic non-destructive testing andinspection (NDT/NDI), and in particular to a portable phased array testinstrument for controlling operation of one or more ultrasonic phasedarray probes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Phased array test instruments generally contain electronic componentswhich may require re-programming to update the firmware or may requiretesting in order to isolate faults or error conditions during instrumentmaintenance. In existing practice, it is often necessary to eitherconnect to the relevant components at the printed circuit board level,or to connect to components by means of an external connector, which isunsightly and may lead to inadvertent user errors. There thereforeexists a need for a method of connecting to testable or re-programmablecomponents without removing any circuit boards from the instrument, andwithout need for an external connector.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portable phased array instrumentaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a handle assembly according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of a battery rack according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3B is a perspective view showing a front view of a battery dooraccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 3C is a perspective view showing a back view of a battery dooraccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a USB dongle mourning assembly accordingto the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a screen support assembly according tothe present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of electronic components according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a board stack and heatsink assemblyaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 8A is a first perspective view showing insertion of an exchangeablere-programming module into a battery rack according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 8B is a second perspective view showing insertion of theexchangeable re-programming module into the battery rack according tothe present disclosure.

FIG. 8C is a perspective view showing insertion of a battery into thebattery rack.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows an isometric view of a portable phased array instrument 1according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows the construction of a handle assembly 20 for instrument 1.In existing practice, handles may be constructed of plastic and nyloncloth sewed together with an elastic thread. This solution isfunctional, but expensive and aesthetically displeasing. In contrast,handle assembly 20 is constructed of custom molded parts, has lowercost, and is well integrated into the overall design of instrument 1.Handle assembly 20 comprises two rigid molded plastic parts 22 a and 22b, which have good rigidity for grasping with the user's hand. Parts 22a and 22 b are attached by means of screws 24 a, 24 b and 24 c. Flexiblepolyurethane arms 26 a and 26 b are locked between parts 22 a and 22 b,thereby spring loading handle assembly 20 with respect to the casing ofinstrument 1. Thus flexible arms 26 a and 26 b replace the function ofthe elastic thread used in existing practice.

FIG. 3A shows the construction of a battery rack 30 for instrument 1.The function of battery rack 30 is to enclose at least one battery (seeFIG. 8C) and to constrain battery movement when instrument 1 is droppedor roughly handled. In existing practice, batteries are locked byquarter turn screws when a battery door is closed, which is inconvenientfor the user. During a drop test, it has been observed that, thebatteries may push hard against the door and may break it. If the dooris open, the batteries are not well constrained. In contrast, in batteryrack 30 the batteries are constrained between two plastic parts 34 a and34 b of a battery case, and part 34 a has two metal springs 32 a and 32b inserted from the outside of the case. Springs 32 a and 32 b areconfigured to reinforce plastic springs 33 a and 33 b (shown in FIG. 3Aand in FIG. 4) that are directly molded into the plastic of part 34 a.Springs 33 a and 33 b push on the batteries and constrain them.

The batteries are further constrained by a battery door 36 shown inFIGS. 3B and 3C. Door 36 has two V-shaped protrusions 36 a and 36 bwhich lock the batteries in place when the door is closed. When the dooris open, the batteries are pushed against plastic part 34 b by theaction of springs 33 a and 33 b, and constrained by a lip 35 in part 34b. Therefore, the batteries are automatically locked and stay inposition even if the user leaves the door open. When in the closedposition, battery door 36 is secured by an upper latch 38 a (FIG. 3C)and a lower latch 38 b (not shown) which are activated by springs 37 aand 37 b respectively. Latches 38 a and 38 b are a more convenientreplacement for quarter turn screws used in existing practice. Thedesign ensures that when instrument 1 is dropped or roughly handled, thebatteries are fully constrained by battery rack 30 and battery door 36,door 36 being secured by latches 38 a and 38 b.

FIG. 4 shows the construction of a dongle mounting assembly 40 forinstrument 1. Instrument 1 uses standard communication technologies,such as both Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® technologies. Instrument 1 uses anintegration method alternative to existing well-known practices by meansof a connecting technology dongle 49. Examples of the standardconnecting technology are USB, WiFi® Bluetooth®, etc. However, anindustry standard requires that USB dongle 49 should be removablewithout using any tool. In addition, it is preferable that dongle 49should be hidden from the user. As shown in FIG. 4, USB dongle 49 ismountable on a printed circuit board (PCB) 48, which includes a USB port41 for insertion of USB dongle 49. PCB 48 is attached to a plasticsliding support 42 allowing it to slide between parts 34 a and 34 b ofbattery rack 30. Sliding support 42 includes a post 43 which is capturedin a slot 45 in part 34 a. Slot 45 includes an inner position hole 45 aand an outer position hole 45 b. When post 43 is in outer position hole45 b, sliding support 42 is in the outer position, permitting easyinsertion or removal of dongle 49 from battery rack 30. When post 43 isin inner position hole 45 a, sliding support 42 is in the innerposition, and dongle 49 is concealed within battery rack 30. Slidingsupport 42 may be moved back and forth between the inner and outerpositions by a user pressing on an edge 42 a of sliding support 42.Motion of sliding support 42 between inner and outer position, andretention of sliding support 42 in either position, is facilitated bythe action of a spring 46.

Note that, by configuring dongle mounting assembly 40 to be containedwithin battery rack 30, sealing for water tightness is provided bybattery door 36, and there is no need to provide any additional sealing,such as would be the case if connection to USB port 41 were provided onthe outer case of instrument 1.

FIG. 5 shows the construction of a screen support assembly 50 forinstrument 1. The function of screen support assembly 50 is to provideadequate support for a screen 54 which has only four small tapped holes56 a, 56 b, 56 c and 56 d (holes 56 b, 56 c and 56 d are not shown)provided for attachment. A one-piece support for screen 54 is inadequatebecause of the manufacturing tolerances of screen 54, particularly inthe horizontal direction. As a result of the tolerances, a singlesupport plate would have to be made oversize. However, four small screwsmatched to the tapped holes cannot exert enough force to compress anoversize single support plate.

As shown in FIG. 5, screen support assembly 50 provides support forscreen 54 using two parts 52 a and 52 b, whose relative horizontalpositions may be varied to account for manufacturing tolerances ofscreen 54. Parts 52 a and 52 b are both first fixed to screen 54. Part52 a is fixed with two flat head screws through holes 57 a and 57 b intotapped holes 56 a and 56 b in screen 54. Part 52 b is fixed with twoflat head screws through holes 57 c and 57 d (not shown) into tappedholes 56 c and 56 d in screen 54. Part 52 b is then located on theplastic enclosure of instrument 1 with location pins. Parts 52 a and 52b are then screwed to the plastic enclosure with horizontal tolerancebeing taken up by slotted holes 58 a, 58 b, 58 c and 58 d in part 52 aand slotted holes 59 a, 59 b, 59 c and 59 d in part 52 b. The slottedholes ensure that wide manufacturing tolerances of screen 54 will notprevent parts 52 a and 52 b from being fixed to the plastic enclosure.In addition, the horizontal dimensions of parts 52 a and 52 b allow fora gap between the parts when they are fixed to screen 54, the gap beinglarge enough to account for the tolerance in the horizontal dimension ofscreen 54.

FIG. 6 shows electronic components 60 for instrument 1, comprising arepresentative first circuit board 64 a and a representative secondcircuit board 64 b, and featuring board clips 62 a, 62 b, 62 c and 62 d.Boards 64 a and 64 b are electrically connected by connectors, andnormally reside within the enclosure of instrument 1. However, it is arequirement that electronic components 60 should be electrically testedoutside the enclosure, and that, after testing, boards 64 a and 64 bshould remain securely in position and electrically connected whilebeing re-inserted into the enclosure of instrument 1. In the absence ofboard clips 62 a, 62 b, 62 c and 62 d, the relative locations of boards64 a and 64 b are maintained only by the electrical connectors and thereis a significant risk of electrical disconnection when insertingelectronic components 60 into the enclosure of instrument 1. By usingfour plastic clips 62 a, 62 b, 62 c and 62 d, one on each corner ofelectronic components 60, boards 64 a and 64 b are securely connectedduring testing and subsequent insertion into instrument 1. Within theenclosure of instrument 1, electronic components 60 is secured to theenclosure by screws inserted through holes (not shown) in the undersidesof board clips 62 a, 62 b, 62 c and 62 d, and through matching holes inboth boards 64 a and 64 b. Board clips 62 a, 62 b, 62 c and 62 d arecaptured by the screws, and remain securely in place, securing thelocation of boards 64 a and 64 b even in the event of impact toinstrument 1.

FIG. 7 shows a hoard stack and heatsink assembly 70 for instrument 1,assembly 70 comprising a heatsink 72, representative boards 64 a and 64b, and an intermediate circuit board 76 stacked on board 64 b. Ifheatsink 72 were only mounted on board 64 a then there would be nomechanism for dissipation of heat generated by electronic components onboard 76. This is representative of a general problem that some boardsof any board stack are not directly in contact with the heat sink forheat dissipation. The problem is mitigated in board stack and heatsinkassembly 70 by creating an aperture 74 on board 64 a, and configuringheatsink 72 with a protrusion 78 which protrudes through aperture 74,thereby allowing direct thermal contact between board 76 and heat sink72. With this arrangement, heat can be efficiently extracted from allhoards in the hoard stack.

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate a method of making connection to the boardsof instrument 1 for the purpose of testing or re-programming electroniccomponents. The necessary connections to the boards are made by means ofa JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) connector 80. Instrument 1 incorporatesmultiple boards with electronic components 60 (see FIG. 6), some or allof which may require testing or re-programming. It is desirable toprovide electrical connectivity to testable or re-programmablecomponents without needing to open the enclosure of instrument 1, andwithout the need for an unsightly external connector which is visible tothe user. JTAG connector 80, preferably comprised of a printed circuitboard with flat conductive contact traces, is configured to be insertedinto a connector cavity in an interior surface of battery rack 30 forthe purpose of providing connections to test or re-program components.When JTAG connector 80 is inserted inside battery rack 30, the contacttraces are flush with the base of part 34 a of battery rack 30. JTAGconnector 80 then remains permanently in position in the connectorcavity.

The casing of instrument 1 incorporates a battery cavity into which abattery 92 is inserted during normal operation of instrument 1 (see FIG.8C). When re-programming or testing is required, battery 92 is replacedwith an exchangeable re-programming module 82 which has substantiallythe same shape as battery 92 and can be inserted inside the batterycavity of battery rack 30 in place of battery 92. Once re-programmingmodule 82 is inserted into battery rack 30, a spring pin connector 83 onthe underside of re-programming module 82 makes electrical contact withthe flat traces on JTAG connector 80, and the connections aretransferred to an external cable connector 84. Cable connector 84 hascable contacts for a flat ribbon computer cable (not shown), each of thecable contacts being electrically connected to a corresponding one ofthe contacts of spring pin connector 83. The flat ribbon cable isconnected to a computer (not shown) configured to perform the testing orre-programming.

Thus, when re-programming module 82 is inserted into the connectorassembly, the computer cable is connected to cable connector 84 at afirst computer cable end and to a computer at a second computer cableend.

The electronic components comprise re-programmable and/or testableelectronic components and the computer is configured to re-programand/or test the electronic components.

The electronic components are configured to control the emission ofnon-destructive testing energy and to receive and process responsesignals of the energy emission.

The electronic components may be configured to have at least oneultrasonic acquisition unit. Alternatively, for non-destructive eddycurrent testing, the electronic components may comprise at least oneeddy current controller unit. For the purpose of an X-ray analyticalinstrument, the electronic components may be configured to comprise anX-ray detector pulse acquisition unit and a signal processor forprocessing X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectra.

Although the present invention has been described in relation toparticular embodiments thereof, it can be appreciated that variousdesigns can be conceived based on the teachings of the presentdisclosure, and all are within the scope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. An instrument comprising: an outer casing havinga top outer casing surface; a handle assembly further comprising: a leftarm having a left casing end and a left captured end; a right arm havinga right casing end and a right captured end; an upper handle part havingan upper left end and an upper right end; and, a lower handle parthaving a lower left end and a lower right end; and, wherein the upperhandle part and the lower handle part are connected with fastenersthereby capturing the right captured end between the upper right end andthe lower right end, and capturing the left captured end between theupper left end and the lower left end; and, wherein the left casing endand the right casing end are connected with fasteners to the top outercasing surface.
 2. The instrument of claim 1, wherein the left arm andthe right arm are made of a flexible polyurethane material.
 3. Theinstrument of claim 1, wherein the upper handle part and the lowerhandle part are made of a rigid plastic material.
 4. The instrument ofclaim 1 wherein the left arm, the right arm, the upper handle part andthe lower handle part are molded plastic parts.
 5. An instrumentcomprising a casing assembly and a dongle mounting assembly, wherein thedongle mounting assembly further comprises: a dongle having a dongleconnector; a printed circuit board (PCB) having a connector portinterfacing with the dongle connector; and, a sliding support configuredto slide within the casing assembly between an outer position and aninner position; and, wherein the PCB is mounted on the sliding support,the dongle is insertable into and removable from the connector portwithout using a tool when the sliding support is in the outer position,and the dongle is concealed within the casing assembly when the slidingsupport is in the inner position.
 6. The instrument of claim 5 whereinthe dongle connector is a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector.
 7. Theinstrument of claim 5 wherein the dongle is interchangeably a Wi-Fi® ora Bluetooth® dongle.
 8. The instrument of claim 5 wherein the slidingsupport comprises a post configured to be inserted into a slot in thecasing assembly, wherein motion of the sliding support between the innerposition and the outer position is guided by the post sliding within theslot.
 9. The instrument of claim 8 wherein the slot has an innerposition hole at a first slot end and an outer position hole at a secondslot end, and wherein the sliding support is in the inner position whenthe post is in the inner position hole and the sliding support is in theouter position when the post is in the outer position hole.
 10. Theinstrument of claim 5 further comprising a spring exerting a springforce on the sliding support, wherein the spring force is effective tofacilitate motion of the sliding support between the inner and outerposition, and to retain the sliding support in either the inner positionor the outer position.